You can freeze yeast if you do a Glycerin or Glycol solution first, that is how yeast labs store their yeast. I am actually starting this process myself at home next month after a number of conversations with a yeast Scientist who is the co-owner of a yeast lab.
I like to do a step up starter where I grow a starter twice the size needed for my brew. I pour half into a sterilized pint mason jar and use the other half for my brew. I also pressure can my own starter at 1.080 and cut it with spring water (this is like buying the fast pitch from Northern Brewer). Makes the whole process of making starter and collecting yeast really easy and the yeast have not gone through a fermentation other than in the starter.
Thanks for leaving in the part where you removed the sharpie from the lid that wasn't tightened, that totally made my whole week! Something like that happens to me nearly every time I do something brewing related and it's good to know I'm not alone 🤣
So, how do you reuse one of your slats, how do you feed your slats (do you?) and how often? I found this to be fascinating content, but I have no clue what happens after the slat creation, how long a slat is viable, Do you freeze a slat, etc. Thanks very much for in depth and engaging content.
when you make a starter pitch it in the fermenter. With the yeast left over you can fill the flask with wart spin it back up and that will build the clean yeast back up. That way you don't end up with tired yeast that's also full of hops.
i get a pack of yeast dry or liquid and make a starter.. I then settle and decant into smaller jars or tubes.. i then use one of them to make my starter for my beer. but i hardly save my spent yeast that has made a batch of beer as it has hops in it.. then when i get down to the last 1 or 2 jars or tubes of yeast i do another large starter to split for more batcher of beer
Hops are your friends. They inhibit bacteria without inhibiting yeast, and that tiny trace will not be noticeable when diluted into a new batch. Collect more often from your beer, and don't keep liquid samples too long.
Your kidding right? Pouring yeast from the corny into a jar. That's what I've started to do. Thank you so much, I didn't even think of putting the glass and stainless steel together, I was pouring from a small height and sometimes pouring over the rubber handle.(yuck) Love you loads for that! Thanks!
You can totally freeze yeast and it will remain viable for years. There are some gotchas. If you dry the yeast then freeze it you get at least 2 years probably longer. If you feed the yeast some glycerol on a stir plate for a day (I usually do between 40-50%) and then cold crash and decant and store in the freezer with a cap of glycerol solution. You can easily get a year or more but you want it in the coldest part of the freezer,if your freezer does not have an automatic defrost cycle right up against the coils, if you do have a auto defrost freezer you want it in a styrofoam box lined with cold packs in the middle of your freezer . I have samples going back several years that are still 2nd or 3rd gen. The downside to doing it this way is when you wake them up you really should make a starter, that ensures the yeast are viable and gets them ready to do real work. I also have a fridge full of yeast cakes that are convenient to just let come to room temp and pitch. This all goes in the toilet if the power goes out for days like it did about 10 years ago or I'd be telling you about my decade old yeast right now. Anything you really want to always have access to you should dry and freeze. Under the right conditions you can grow a pitchable colony with just a few viable cells in a matter of a week or so.
I've built a small yeast bank by freezing yeast and storing in some 1.5mL cryotubes that I found cheap on Amazon and don't take up much room in the freezer. I made a batch of yeast starter one day (a simple wort, 2-row and some yeast nutrient) and then pressure canned it in jars. Now a week before brew day I re-heat a couple of jars of starter (different sizes) just to be there is nothing growing in them, thaw a tube of yeast, and then over the course of the week step the starter up to a full 1L.
Looks like this is a way I can save some serious money om my brewing considering I normally pay the equivalent of 12-23 dollars per brew for my yeast at the moment
The exact amount is unimportant as yeast reproduces exponentially, but every time you open the jar or handle it, you risk introducing an infection. The longer you let it sit after being opened the more an infection can take hold. Open it once and use it all.
Or just Use Kveik Yeast that you can throw the yeast cake on a fruit leather tray for a home food dehydrator, dry it at 95F till totally dry, and store it in the freezer dried, Do it all the time with Voss Kveik yeasts and it works out fine and starts up every time without fail so far. Also, dried and in the freezer it will last 2+ years. This only works with Kveik yeast tho lol
Great video! Happy to see I'm doing it pretty much the same way as you are, Flora, but with the added bonus that I snagged some great tips from ya along the way. 🍻👍🏽 Has anyone made "SAVE THE YEAST" t-shirts yet? CH... lookin' at you braj. 😎
This is the best method. Washing yeast is a waste of time and 100 times more likely to become infected, than if you just jar up the trub and put it in the fridge. Also, There is no limit to how much yeast you can get from one fermentation. You can literally stir up the whole 20 liter lot and jar it up before it separates for your first iteration and get thousands of subsequent inoculations from it... basically your first batch of beer you brewed would become your starter.
What about light and UV effecting the yeast? Clear door looks cool but doesn’t seem like it would be good for yeast storage in clear containers and vials.
Another good tool for harvesting is what they call a separatory funnel. Then you can just drop the yeast out of the bottom and leave the liquid behind.
Thanks for the informative video. I have kids who get into permanent markers every now and then. You can write over permanent marker with a dry erase marker and it will wipe right off.
You didn’t talk about shelf life for the yeast in the fridge? Like a long can you store? What do you do if the of you go past the date? How do you know if it is good or not??
You'd be really surprised to know how resilient yeast is when stored at cold temperatures. I keep yeast in a similar way to Flora but in larger vials (50ml) that are refrigerated at 40F. I can spin up almost 2 year old yeast with step starters no problem. I have a library of 10 yeasts on hand that I can just keep reusing with starters until it reaches 10+ generations.
Is there a reason why u don’t top crop ? I was hoping to see if there was a risk with top cropping because I’m still using buckets and glass fermenters. FYI- like wine their idea!!!
Wort? Beer you mean? Fermented wort = beer. If you want to freeze it you have to use a non cycling freezer, and you should add some glycerin to it to avoid that cell ruptures in freezing. Dont wash it with water, just a step to increase chances of infection. Beer is the perfect storage media for yeast. Low pH etc. When frozen it will last for decades probably...
I make way more ciders than I do beer, and for my ciders I have found this stuff called apple sugar at my local walmart which is basically just a package of condensed apple juice/syrup that I use in lieu of DME. Since there is no maltose in apple juice, you don't have to condition your yeasts to consume medium chain sugars with DME. The apple sugar stuff can get on the pricy side sometimes, and since apple juice has simple sugars like fructose, if you want you can just make your starters with other simple sugars, like sucrose (aka Table Sugar). You can also use store bought apple juice and just cut it with some water til you lower the OG to around 1.030-1.040 which is a healthy balance for most yeast starters. Hope this helps.
Was your original yeast dry or liquid , I thought that you could not reuse or save dry yeast. I’ve been brewing for years but a lot has changed. Another enjoyable video thanks.
have been using small ultrasonic cleaners for making Aging alcohol Cannabis edibles, Tinctures and Coloidal Silver.I had the Idea to try it on my Fermentation of grain mash. My hopes were to make the mash into smaller particles and increasing surface area. I hoped to increase Bioavailability for the yeast. The 6 gal. plastic bucket I used for it kept blowing its top off as the bubbler was unable to keep up with the new rate of fermentation. I had to resort to taping the lid down with duct tape, Watching the bucket bulge from unreleased pressure and hoping it did not explode. !!WARNING DO NOT USE A GLASS VESSEL FOR FERMENTING IF YOU SHOULD TRY THIS METHOD!! I had hoped to show the increased speed of fermentation in this video. I made two mistakes. I used some pretty old yeast and I did not malt the grain first. Still the control had not even started before the ultrasounde grain had filled its bag full. I believe if I had used a malted grain and newer Yeast the results would have been more dramatic for you to see. I am very new to brewing, only three batches with using ultrasound to decrease particle size the third batch. I did try a sugar wash 4th batch using the ultrasound but saw no changes in the speed of fermentation. . I am hoping someone with a better set up and greater brewing knowledge can experiment with this and show the actual rate of increase. (I believe it to be about 300% or better) This could have a major significance in such a large market as alcohol and fuel.A factor to consider is stirring the grai water mixture in the ultrasound as a heavy layer of grain at the bottom may reduce effectiveness. I used a 60 watt, 40khz ultrasound unit with just one transducer on this video . On the earlier bucket run I used a home made unit with two 40 khz transducers. Finding the optimal range of transducers, frequency , volume, stir rate and length of time I leave to future brewers with more capital and time to find czcams.com/video/xlaGz_3mKhU/video.html czcams.com/video/b_mdvsEF3vo/video.html
"If your spouse doesn't let you get another mini-fridge" is the song of the homebrewer peoples
You can freeze yeast if you do a Glycerin or Glycol solution first, that is how yeast labs store their yeast. I am actually starting this process myself at home next month after a number of conversations with a yeast Scientist who is the co-owner of a yeast lab.
I like to do a step up starter where I grow a starter twice the size needed for my brew. I pour half into a sterilized pint mason jar and use the other half for my brew. I also pressure can my own starter at 1.080 and cut it with spring water (this is like buying the fast pitch from Northern Brewer). Makes the whole process of making starter and collecting yeast really easy and the yeast have not gone through a fermentation other than in the starter.
Thanks for leaving in the part where you removed the sharpie from the lid that wasn't tightened, that totally made my whole week! Something like that happens to me nearly every time I do something brewing related and it's good to know I'm not alone 🤣
So, how do you reuse one of your slats, how do you feed your slats (do you?) and how often? I found this to be fascinating content, but I have no clue what happens after the slat creation, how long a slat is viable, Do you freeze a slat, etc. Thanks very much for in depth and engaging content.
when you make a starter pitch it in the fermenter. With the yeast left over you can fill the flask with wart spin it back up and that will build the clean yeast back up. That way you don't end up with tired yeast that's also full of hops.
Do you mean the tiny amount left in the flask?
@@vectorponder yup. 1L of wart will build up a new clean starter or you can slant it
But then the yeast won't like ..evolve i guess , will it ? My one of my main purpose for doing it is i get a custom strain
So now you have all these mason jars and vials of yeast... How do you know how much of it to use in a batch?
You're my type of Brewer. She" ll be rite. Hello from Australia.
i get a pack of yeast dry or liquid and make a starter.. I then settle and decant into smaller jars or tubes.. i then use one of them to make my starter for my beer. but i hardly save my spent yeast that has made a batch of beer as it has hops in it.. then when i get down to the last 1 or 2 jars or tubes of yeast i do another large starter to split for more batcher of beer
I like your method. What are your volumes of water to DME a?
Hops are your friends. They inhibit bacteria without inhibiting yeast, and that tiny trace will not be noticeable when diluted into a new batch.
Collect more often from your beer, and don't keep liquid samples too long.
Your kidding right? Pouring yeast from the corny into a jar. That's what I've started to do. Thank you so much, I didn't even think of putting the glass and stainless steel together, I was pouring from a small height and sometimes pouring over the rubber handle.(yuck) Love you loads for that! Thanks!
Very safe to freeze. I have frozen sour dough starter before and worked well
You can totally freeze yeast and it will remain viable for years. There are some gotchas. If you dry the yeast then freeze it you get at least 2 years probably longer. If you feed the yeast some glycerol on a stir plate for a day (I usually do between 40-50%) and then cold crash and decant and store in the freezer with a cap of glycerol solution. You can easily get a year or more but you want it in the coldest part of the freezer,if your freezer does not have an automatic defrost cycle right up against the coils, if you do have a auto defrost freezer you want it in a styrofoam box lined with cold packs in the middle of your freezer . I have samples going back several years that are still 2nd or 3rd gen. The downside to doing it this way is when you wake them up you really should make a starter, that ensures the yeast are viable and gets them ready to do real work. I also have a fridge full of yeast cakes that are convenient to just let come to room temp and pitch. This all goes in the toilet if the power goes out for days like it did about 10 years ago or I'd be telling you about my decade old yeast right now. Anything you really want to always have access to you should dry and freeze. Under the right conditions you can grow a pitchable colony with just a few viable cells in a matter of a week or so.
I've built a small yeast bank by freezing yeast and storing in some 1.5mL cryotubes that I found cheap on Amazon and don't take up much room in the freezer. I made a batch of yeast starter one day (a simple wort, 2-row and some yeast nutrient) and then pressure canned it in jars. Now a week before brew day I re-heat a couple of jars of starter (different sizes) just to be there is nothing growing in them, thaw a tube of yeast, and then over the course of the week step the starter up to a full 1L.
You are the best homebrewerr! Love your videos!
Thanks biģ time! / Marcus
Looks like this is a way I can save some serious money om my brewing considering I normally pay the equivalent of 12-23 dollars per brew for my yeast at the moment
That will change my life!!! Thank you so much.
You can freeze some yeasts: sourdough shards, and kveik shards.
I've collected the yeast exactly how you did but how do you know how much you need to use on the next brew? Thanks for the video..
The exact amount is unimportant as yeast reproduces exponentially, but every time you open the jar or handle it, you risk introducing an infection. The longer you let it sit after being opened the more an infection can take hold.
Open it once and use it all.
Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaah! I was totally overthinking it!😂😂
I use yeast that is a year old. But make starter every time and add some back to the mother jar
Thanks for the teaching!
Where can I source the slats? (the little storage containers and racks)
I think she's confused about what they're called. They're just test tubes
Or just Use Kveik Yeast that you can throw the yeast cake on a fruit leather tray for a home food dehydrator, dry it at 95F till totally dry, and store it in the freezer dried, Do it all the time with Voss Kveik yeasts and it works out fine and starts up every time without fail so far. Also, dried and in the freezer it will last 2+ years. This only works with Kveik yeast tho lol
Hello from Brazil! 🇧🇷
How do you know if you collected enough , or too much yeast per container?
I recently got an infection from keeping a jar too long in my fridge and opening it too many times. Now I'm re-thinking my entire process.
keep up the good work! thanks
Great stuff.
Cool vid, thankee 👍
Awesome. Thanks
Great video! Happy to see I'm doing it pretty much the same way as you are, Flora, but with the added bonus that I snagged some great tips from ya along the way. 🍻👍🏽
Has anyone made "SAVE THE YEAST" t-shirts yet? CH... lookin' at you braj. 😎
Do you have to feed the yeast if kept over time ?
This is the best method. Washing yeast is a waste of time and 100 times more likely to become infected, than if you just jar up the trub and put it in the fridge. Also, There is no limit to how much yeast you can get from one fermentation. You can literally stir up the whole 20 liter lot and jar it up before it separates for your first iteration and get thousands of subsequent inoculations from it... basically your first batch of beer you brewed would become your starter.
What about light and UV effecting the yeast? Clear door looks cool but doesn’t seem like it would be good for yeast storage in clear containers and vials.
Another good tool for harvesting is what they call a separatory funnel. Then you can just drop the yeast out of the bottom and leave the liquid behind.
Yes, I used these in schools. If I got deep into this, I would absolutely get this setup. It was super useful and a lot of fun in the lab.
can you harvest omega lutra kviev dry yeast?
How do you know how much to pitch?
I have mi yeast sedimentig right now so I'm re-uping my knowledge
Hi Sarah. Another great video in your unique crazy style! Can you tell me where you get your slats from please?
Have you ever dehydrated your yeast for very long term storage?
Thanks for the informative video. I have kids who get into permanent markers every now and then. You can write over permanent marker with a dry erase marker and it will wipe right off.
You didn’t talk about shelf life for the yeast in the fridge? Like a long can you store? What do you do if the of you go past the date? How do you know if it is good or not??
You'd be really surprised to know how resilient yeast is when stored at cold temperatures. I keep yeast in a similar way to Flora but in larger vials (50ml) that are refrigerated at 40F. I can spin up almost 2 year old yeast with step starters no problem. I have a library of 10 yeasts on hand that I can just keep reusing with starters until it reaches 10+ generations.
Is there a reason why u don’t top crop ? I was hoping to see if there was a risk with top cropping because I’m still using buckets and glass fermenters. FYI- like wine their idea!!!
yes top layer is the best.......breweries which do open fermentation, always skim off the yeast from the top.......cheers..
How long will this yeast last ? Can you freeze this ? Will the yeast last longer if
you drain off the wort and add water instead ?
Wort? Beer you mean? Fermented wort = beer. If you want to freeze it you have to use a non cycling freezer, and you should add some glycerin to it to avoid that cell ruptures in freezing. Dont wash it with water, just a step to increase chances of infection. Beer is the perfect storage media for yeast. Low pH etc. When frozen it will last for decades probably...
@@JohnAbrahamsen
thanks for the info I did not think of adding glycerin.
P.S. I meant beer.( Typing with a homebrew and a fuzzy head. )
Actually you can freeze yeast pretty well
Is there a way to do a gluten free starter for ciders? One that doesn’t use DME.
I make way more ciders than I do beer, and for my ciders I have found this stuff called apple sugar at my local walmart which is basically just a package of condensed apple juice/syrup that I use in lieu of DME. Since there is no maltose in apple juice, you don't have to condition your yeasts to consume medium chain sugars with DME. The apple sugar stuff can get on the pricy side sometimes, and since apple juice has simple sugars like fructose, if you want you can just make your starters with other simple sugars, like sucrose (aka Table Sugar). You can also use store bought apple juice and just cut it with some water til you lower the OG to around 1.030-1.040 which is a healthy balance for most yeast starters. Hope this helps.
Was your original yeast dry or liquid , I thought that you could not reuse or save dry yeast. I’ve been brewing for years but a lot has changed. Another enjoyable video thanks.
You can save ANY yeast like this.
@@DimpieDeBruyn Thanks Mate
Funny. At 1st, I was looking at her yeast fridge wondering how she hung it on the wall...
Also don't think you were slanting the yeast. Check out dudes brews video on using agar solution.
How many avocado tattoos you got on your arm
Love your channel you are so good at it and cute as hell…..
YT money is good...just saying.
have been using small ultrasonic cleaners for making Aging alcohol Cannabis edibles, Tinctures and Coloidal Silver.I had the Idea to try it on my Fermentation of grain mash. My hopes were to make the mash into smaller particles and increasing surface area. I hoped to increase Bioavailability for the yeast. The 6 gal. plastic bucket I used for it kept blowing its top off as the bubbler was unable to keep up with the new rate of fermentation. I had to resort to taping the lid down with duct tape, Watching the bucket bulge from unreleased pressure and hoping it did not explode. !!WARNING DO NOT USE A GLASS VESSEL FOR FERMENTING IF YOU SHOULD TRY THIS METHOD!! I had hoped to show the increased speed of fermentation in this video. I made two mistakes. I used some pretty old yeast and I did not malt the grain first.
Still the control had not even started before the ultrasounde grain had filled its bag full. I believe if I had used a malted grain and newer Yeast the results would have been more dramatic for you to see. I am very new to brewing, only three batches with using ultrasound to decrease particle size the third batch. I did try a sugar wash 4th batch using the ultrasound but saw no changes in the speed of fermentation. . I am hoping someone with a better set up and greater brewing knowledge can experiment with this and show the actual rate of increase. (I believe it to be about 300% or better)
This could have a major significance in such a large market as alcohol and fuel.A factor to consider is stirring the grai water mixture in the ultrasound as a heavy layer of grain at the bottom may reduce effectiveness. I used a 60 watt, 40khz ultrasound unit with just one transducer on this video . On the earlier bucket run I used a home made unit with two 40 khz transducers. Finding the optimal range of transducers, frequency , volume, stir rate and length of time I leave to future brewers with more capital and time to find
czcams.com/video/xlaGz_3mKhU/video.html
czcams.com/video/b_mdvsEF3vo/video.html